The Falmer inquiry has been a huge strain on the resources of Brighton and Hove Albion.

Six years have passed since Albion director - now chief executive - Martin Perry gave Brighton and Hove City Council a detailed report into five possible sites for a new stadium, including Falmer.

Since then there has been a city-wide referendum, a planning application which won council backing, a 40-day public inquiry spread over nine months - and a seemingly interminable wait for a verdict.

The planning process has swallowed £2.5 million of the club's money and chairman Dick Knight expects the cost to hit £3 million. And even now Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott's long-delayed decision only drags things out further.

The Seagulls face more administrative charges and bank balance-sapping losses at Withdean. But Mr Prescott's apparent urge to check out every possible alternative site suggests he is keen to avoid any prospect of a judicial review - which anyone unhappy at the verdict when it does come can apply for.

Such a review would not be into the decision itself but the way it was reached. Applying for the review begins with a £30 court fee but costs can rise to more than £20,000.

The wait for a full hearing can last between six months and a year. All of which must make it even more galling for the club, which had hoped to have their £48 million, 23,000-seat stadium ready for the opening game of the forthcoming season.

Not long after Mr Perry's 1998 presentation to the council, the authority's ruling Labour group threw its weight behind the Falmer bid.

A referendum on the issue was called in February 1999 and four months later, 44,985 people in Brighton and Hove backed the Falmer plans. There were 21,548 marking their ballot papers against, giving the victors' 68 per cent of the vote.

After the club submitted a full planning application in October 2001, the council's planning committee gave the green light in June 2002.

Mr Prescott "called in" the bid for a public inquiry and supporters and opponents turned out in force as the hearing opened at Hove Town Hall on February 1 last year.

The main session ended in June last year but the hearing reopened briefly on October 14 to discuss highways work related to the project. On October 23 the inquiry finally ended.

Planning inspector Charles Hoile, who was considering Brighton and Hove's Local Plan, published his report last February and recommended the Falmer bid be rejected as unsuitable.

Falmer opponents and Albion fans woke yesterday hoping to emulate the famous words of 1966 World Cup commentator Kenneth Wolstenholme.

They thought it was all over. But it's not now.